Lots of hotels have been hyping their programmes for the millennium, not so much in Dublin, but certainly in the West. A number have specially inclusive deals where you stay

for two or three days and enjoy the feasting and festivities of Christmas and St Stephen's Day.

A useful guide is the Discover Ireland booklet on millennium Festive Breaks. This is widely available at tourist information offices. It has information on millennium packages, but is equally useful on the Christmas front. The Northern Ireland Tourist Board office in Nassau Street, Dublin, has brochures from hotels with Christmas deals.

In Discover Ireland the West features strongly for Christmas.

The West County hotel in Ennis, Co Clare, starts its Christmas programme on Christmas Eve. The arrival menu includes special tea for the kids.

On St Stephen's Day, the kids have a supper disco party, while the more adult-minded enjoy a gourmet candlelit Champagne dinner dance.

Galway is an excellent spot for enjoyment and relaxation. Several hotels here have Christmas programmes, including Abbeyglen Castle in Clifden and the Galway Bay Hotel in Salthill. This latter hotel has an ambitious programme for Christmas Day, quite apart from a gala buffet lunch and traditional Christmas dinner. Face painting and video shows for kids and bingo for the adults - what more could you want?

Kerry is good, too, with such hotels as the Gleneagle in Killarney offering Christmas programmes. For a classy Christmas break, try the Great Southern Parknasilla, where the Christmas Day dinner dance is black tie.

Cork has the widest range of hotels offering Christmas programmes in Munster. Top spots include the Ryan Metropole and Hayfield Manor Hotel, which is set in two acres of mature gardens and is the last word in luxury. Described as Cork's only five star hotel, Hayfield Manor's restaurant is popular with locals and visitors for gourmet cuisine prepared under the expert eye of Robert Cowley, chef de cuisine.

The Blarney Park Hotel has lots of Christmas feasting, while the Castlehyde Hotel, in an 18th century Georgian house near Fermoy in north Cork, has a stylish programme - light breakfast in your room, brunch with piano music and a dinner dance on Christmas evening.

Acton's in Kinsale, the Celtic Ross in Rosscarbery and the Colla House in Schull are other Cork hotels with Christmas programmes. Kinsale will be terrific at Christmas - what better to do after Christmas lunch than have a brisk walk along the quayside?

This guide is not confined to the south and west. Athlone, Kilkenny, Waterford and Wexford are other parts of the country featured.

Dublin is included, with the likes of the Gresham, the Fitzwilliam and the Regency, while in the north-west, well-known hotels with inclusive Christmas programmes include the Sligo Park in Sligo, the Great Northern in Bundoran and the Ostan na Rosann in Dungloe.

For a growing number of people at Christmas, staying in an hotel solves a lot of problems. The cooking and washing-up are all done for you, the kids are entertained and adults, too, have diversions laid on.